I woke up this morning and did a very tiny little bit of work before Karen Mercer treated me and Amanda to a Cracker Barrel breakfast.  After that we went to Lowe’s- she wanted to look for some grass seed and Amanda wanted to look at some organizers.  She wants to hang some racks behind the door in the nursery so they won’t be noticeable but we’ll still be able to put something up.  A wardrobe would look better, I think, but it would cover up the wall more.

After we got back to the house I went to go surfing with Michael and Barry.  They hadn’t been out long when I got to Wrightsville Beach, but I walked down just past the pier to talk to Nick and Amy Warkentien, who were out there with Mike and Kirsten Paschal, Josh and Rebekah Asselin and another couple I don’t think I knew.  I ended up talking with them for a while before heading back, and as I was paddling out Michael was coming in.  I stayed out long enough to catch four or five waves, but the area I was in started to get crowded plus I don’t have as much fun by myself, which was probably the bigger reason that I went on in.  The waves I caught were really good ones though, and they were easy to catch.  I probably should have stayed out longer.

When I got home I noticed that the newer wet spots on the ceiling were bigger and definitely damp, which was disheartening to say the least.  I got up in the attic (sweating so much that I disrobed entirely after I got back down because I was so wet) and saw the problem.  The tray I rigged up, which was doing an admirable job for the most part, had gotten damp on one side and allowed some water to drip out the side.  The insulation around the box hanging off the end of the unit was so damp that I went ahead and ripped it off (mostly) and discovered that the box hanging off the end is a metal one that just has water condensating on the outside of it.  My plan is to make another tray, but to build it from plastic or maybe a metal that won’t rust.  I need to run it by someone who knows about such things first though.  I also need to see if there’s a reason the thing was insulated in the first place.

After that fiasco I jumped in the shower real quick then Amanda and I went to Sam’s Club to buy some things for Nick and Amy’s bonfire tonight, namely hot dogs.  We got two 28 packs, which I think was just about enough.  We also bought a giant can of baked beans, which had to be transported very carefully.

We got to Nick and Amy’s just a few minutes after 6:00 and stayed until about 9:30 I think.  There was a good turnout and we had a great time.  One thing of note is that there were two girls there, Lauren Millard and Wendy Larrabee, who were both pregnant and due yesterday.  They said it would be okay for Amanda to go the same time as them, but not before.  Both are, like us, having girls.  There was one other pregnant girl there, Jenny Vetter, who is due, I think in August or September, and she’s the only one having a boy.

We let our fire pit, the one I bought for Amanda’s birthday last year, be used as a secondary fire/cooker (which worked well for hamburgers).  Unfortunately one of the stone slabs on it was heated and dropped and it broke.  I won’t mention who dropped it because I know he feels bad and we’re not upset about it.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the night.

Zach Dotsey